//====================================//
// True Crime: New York City //
// Glitch FAQ (v0.2) //
// Copyright 2006 Y|yukichigai //
//====================================//
<BEFORE I EVEN GET STARTED: If you are having trouble pushing the guy off the
edge of the crate in the Human Cargo mission do a text search for "TOMMY".
This should bring you straight to the appropriate section of the FAQ.>
This FAQ is intended to cover as many of the many many many many MANY serious
or otherwise game-altering glitches located in True Crime: New York City, and
to list any known solutions or workarounds to said glitches. Glitches are
broken up by the missions they occur in; glitches which occur regardless of
mission can be found in the General section. (at the top, can't miss it)
Glitches come in two main types:
<Roman Numeral>. <Text> (e.g. IV. Glitch) -- Major or otherwise game-altering
glitch. Usually (but not necessarily) will have a cause/solution listed.
<Lowercase letter>. <Text> (e.g. c. Glitch) -- Minor glitch, with minimal to no
effect on overall gameplay, e.g. minor visual errors, audio problems, etc.
These can also be glitches which are simply amusing.
I have tried to reproduce all of these glitches on my own as best I could, but
many are infrequent enough that I have not seen them. I have included those
glitches that I have not seen and that have very little documentation, but with
no entries for cause/solution.
Glitches are tested using the XBox version of True Crime: New York City. (since
that's the only version I own) As such this FAQ is written primarily for XBox
users, though most glitches occur on all releases of the game.
All "official causes" are what were listed on the Activision support website
for True Crime: New York City, and are copyright their respective owners.
I make no guarantee that this list is complete or even remotely complete, and
likely will never be fully complete due to the high number of glitches in the
game. If by some miracle I happen to find all glitches in the game then and
only then will I mark the FAQ's version as 1.0.
If you come across any glitches that I have no details for and remember what
you were doing when it happened email me and I'll add your information to the
FAQ. Similarly if you encounter a glitch not listed in the FAQ at all send me
an email with whatever information you have, e.g. where you were when it
happened, what you were doing, what mission, etc.
===================
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CONTACT INFO
-------------------
===================
Email me at yukichigai (at) hotmail (dot) com. You can also send a private
message to username "yukichigai" at GameFAQs.com, Gamespot.com or TV.com.
-------------------
But before you send
me an email....
-------------------
DO NOT ASK ME ABOUT "RELATED" GAMES OTHER THAN THE PREVIOUS TRUE CRIME GAME.
The only games I have any decent knowledge of in terms of glitches are the two
True Crime games and Deus Ex. I CANNOT help you with glitches in other games.
DO NOT ASK ME ABOUT HOW TO BEAT DIFFICULT MISSIONS UNLESS IT'S DUE TO A GLITCH.
I am not writing a walkthrough; someone else has done that already. Check one
of the walkthroughs on GameFAQs for that information.
DO NOT EMAIL ME ASKING FOR ADDITIONAL SOLUTIONS TO GLITCHES COVERED BY THE FAQ.
If you want to say, "hey, your solution doesn't work for me," that's one thing,
but IF I KNEW ANOTHER WAY TO WORK AROUND A GLITCH I'D HAVE INCLUDED IT IN THE
FAQ ALREADY! If you email me asking for help on a previously covered glitch I
WILL put your email address in my "junk senders" list, ESPECIALLY if you send me
something like: "how do U push teh guy off of the crat?"
You have been warned....
===================
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Important Stuff
-------------------
===================
At the moment this FAQ is only authorized to be posted on GameFAQs.com and its
partner sites. (e.g. Gamespot.com and other CNET partner sites) Any other
websites hosting this FAQ are committing copyright infringement. Websites
wishing to host this FAQ may contact me and request permission to do so.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
IMPORTANT NOTE TYPE THING: This FAQ is also full of all manner of
disrespectful and otherwise rude comments about Activision and the people who
coded this game, i.e. my opinions/cynical humor. I have no exclusive or valid
insight into what went on in the development of this game, nor have I met any
of the people responsible for programming this game. My statements are simply
based on many years of watching average game quality go down the crapper. This
game just happens to be unlucky enough to bear the brunt of my anger over those
things. On the plus side, the result should be mildly funny.
===================
-------------------
Glitch List
-------------------
===================
===================
PBCAC Glitches
(Problem Between
Controller and
Couch)
===================
a. "I keep getting the same random street crime every other crime."
NOTES/DETAILS:
Every other crime that comes over the police scanner will be the EXACT
same crime. Crime may be at a different geographical location but will involve
the same building layout, (if inside a building) the same vehicle(s) and the
same suspects.
CAUSE:
Dude, do you not understand "PBCAC"?
SOLUTION:
Certain suspects will have a triangle icon above their head, indicating
they are "key suspects". They can ONLY be take down using non-lethal methods,
e.g. neutralizing shots or non-lethal weapons such as the Beanbag Shotgun. IF
YOU KILL A KEY SUSPECT YOU FAIL THE MISSION. IF YOU TAKE THEM DOWN AND DON'T
ARREST THEM BEFORE THEY "ESCAPE" (fade out) YOU FAIL THE MISSION. This applies
to random street crimes as well. If you fail a random street crime then you
must do it over and over again until you get it right.
In short, STOP KILLING KEY SUSPECTS.
===================
General
===================
I. Gameplay suddenly freezes. A loud buzzing may also be heard when this
occurs.
NOTES/DETAILS:
This is one of the more frequent and severe glitches to occur, and is
identical to the freezing glitch found in the previous game in the series, True
Crime: Streets of L.A. This seems to occur more frequently on the XBox version
of the game than the PS2 version. Once the game has frozen there is no way to
get it working again short of resetting the console.
CAUSE:
No official cause. My guess is that someone cut and paste a large chunk
of code from the first game without bothering to check how stable it was.
SOLUTION:
For most players there is no way to outright avoid this problem, though
certain actions have a significantly higher chance of initiating a freeze.
Players who have modded their XBoxes may find that "installing" the game to the
hard drive drastically reduces the frequency of freeze-ups. PS2 players may
have similar success using products such as HDD-Loader to do something similar,
though I have not been able to test this.
II. Compass-map and entire HUD disappear during gameplay, shading effects look
strange and menu is unviewable.
NOTES/DETAILS:
Perhaps the most common "severe" glitch in the game, this seems to occur
randomly, though usually when you are driving a vehicle at night. You may be
able to see an outline where the compass-map should be on the screen. You may
also see a distorted version of the license plate background from the menu flash
across the screen on occasion, and blur with certain elements on screen.
CAUSE:
According to Activision's website, this occurs when the weather changes
from/to rain or snow for an unspecified reason. Personally I have seen this
happen at other times than that.
SOLUTION:
Usually this glitch will go away after a few seconds, though in rare
cases it can stay for several minutes. (or seemingly indefinitely) Resetting
the game in these rare instances will resolve the problem.
III. When entering or exiting a car, if another car scrapes along the side you
are entering/exiting you will take massive amounts of damage.
NOTES/DETAILS:
The amount of damage depends on how long the car scrapes along the
vehicle you are entering/exiting. While I cannot state a specific damage rate
per second it is very high, likely 3000+ per second. (enough to kill you
outright in the Redman Bonus game most of the time)
CAUSE:
No official cause. This is what you get when you "encourage" your coders
with bullwhips.
SOLUTION:
No known solution.
IV. All vehicles on the road are Police Cruisers or parked Sedans.
(CODENAME: "COPLAND")
NOTES/DETAILS:
This can occur at any time, but almost always happens when you return to
the "Free Roam-Time" mission, be it from another mission or even from entering
and exiting a store/building/etc. You will usually see a large number of
Police Cruisers in traffic with maybe one or two "normal" cars, and may
occasionally see a variety of vehicles in cross-traffic in the distance.
A short time later the only moving vehicles you will encounter on the road will
be Police Cruisers. Additionally, any parked cars you find on the side of the
road -- if there are any -- will be Sedans. (Look like Crown Victorias) You
will likely find the streets completely devoid of pedestrians as well.
Fortunately the Cruisers are not bad vehicles at all, so while you're trying to
clear up the problem you can at least drive around in relative style.
CAUSE:
No official cause. Only appears after the game has been running for an
extended period of time, indicating a possible flaw in the random number
generator used for picking which cars to spawn.
SOLUTION:
A number of possible solutions exist, though only one is guaranteed:
1) Save your game and reset the console using either a Hard (button) or
Soft (controller) reset, then load your game. This is the only guaranteed
solution.
2) Enter a building or business and stay for a short period. Sometimes
this is impossible however, as Copland usually seems to occur when all shops
are closed, even during the daytime.
3) Commandeer a non-Sedan (Cruisers are just Sedans with sirens) vehicle
and drive for a few blocks. Unless by fluke a "normal" vehicle is parked on
the side of the road or some of the distant "normal" traffic glitches and
causes a collision-injury you will have to wait until you get a random crime
specifically involving a non-Sedan vehicle.
4) Go to a Police Box/Headquarters and bring out one of your vehicles
from the garage. Once it's been pulled around get in and drive for a few
blocks. This is easier than number 3 if you happen to be near a Police Box,
but it may take more time than simply restarting, especially because it is not
guaranteed to solve the problem.
As mentioned, the only guaranteed solution is number 1. All other
solutions may not work immediately or at all.
V. After the end of a mission involving an interrogation, the player doesn't
receive any calls from informants and has no informant missions left to do.
NOTES/DETAILS:
This is usually only noticed when the player fails an interrogation,
but can happen regardless of whether or not the interrogation at the end of the
previous mission was successful.
CAUSE:
As listed on Activision's website, occurs when the "voice" volume is
set to 0. Basically new informant missions are triggered by phone calls being
played, and setting the volume to 0 stops them from being played. Wow, way to
code for contingencies guys.
SOLUTION:
Set voice volume to something above 0, and reload from your last save.
-------------------
a. Headlights on cars will occasionally point upwards, rather than forwards.
NOTES/DETAILS:
Though sometimes hard to spot, headlights on vehicles may occasionally
"shine" upwards, usually only on vehicles you are not driving.
CAUSE:
Even if I knew, would you really care?
SOLUTION:
No solution. Point at the car and laugh if it makes you feel better.
b. A car/my car suddenly shot high into the air around Hwy 9a & 10th Ave.
NOTES/DETAILS:
This occurs somewhat rarely, only when a car is driven slowly over a
particular section of curb on a frontage road parallel to Highway 9a, near
10th Avenue, where a gap in the road surface is located. This is likely only
present in the XBox version of the game.
CAUSE (Long Version):
<The following is a theory> The physics engine used by TC: NYC is not a
incredibly precise engine, and (apparently) uses some math tricks to function.
The physics engine does however scan for nearby terrain and ensures that any
object moving in any direction stays at or above the level of the terrain.
This is what lets you walk up stairs in the game, in fact walk on the ground in
general. However, when an object is located BELOW the terrain the physics
engine breaks down. It is likely that it only performs x update checks per
second and assumes that if an object is y units below the terrain then it was
traveling at y times x units per second. For the player and NPCs this does not
matter, but cars and many other objects bounce. In this particular case the
tires of the vehicle fall through a small gap in the surface of the road, then
when the horizontal velocity of the car carries the tires under another solid
chunk of road the physics engine assumes that the tires, being y units under
the terrain, were traveling at y times x units per second downward, and thusly
corrects their position and applies a velocity somewhat less than y times x
units per second in the opposite direction to the car. In practice this
velocity in units per second seems to translate to about 120 miles per hour,
the velocity getting higher the farther the tires dip below the surface of the
road.
CAUSE (Short Version):
Physics engine behaves weirdly when things fall into holes in the map.
Because the poor mappers for TC: NYC were actually Vietnamese slave laborers
chained to workstations for 20 hours a week, paid only in pocket lint and dried
prunes, there are a number of small, near impossible to detect gaps in the
surface of the road in a few places, including at this particular curb.
SOLUTION:
Drive over it fast, or avoid it. Then again, it's pretty fun to launch
your car 6 stories in the air.
c. Selected car color when purchasing vehicle doesn't match actual color, nor
do any subsequent paint jobs.
NOTES/DETAILS:
This glitch seems to occur when you cycle through the possible choices
for car color multiple times after initially purchasing the vehicle and then
cancelling the purchase menu, thereby undoing the purchase. You will see the
paint job you desire in the preview window, but when exiting the Dealership you
will find that the car is a different color, likely the default color or color
you initially purchased it in. You will be able to change the paint job at a
mechanic's shop and the color you select will match the color of the car, but
once you return to the Police Garage the preview for the car will display a
different color.
CAUSE:
No official cause. Likely another rush coding error.
SOLUTION:
The only viable solution is to reset the game and load the game at a
point prior to the purchase of the vehicle. Once loaded simply purchase the
vehicle with the desired color without cancelling the purchase. If no save
exists before the purchase of the vehicle then the best that can be done is to
change the color at a mechanic's shop so that the actual color matches the
desired color; the color in the preview window of the Police Garage will
remain incorrect.
d. Flamethrower continues to fire after player is knocked down.
NOTES/DETAILS:
This only occurs if you're knocked down by something while you are in the
process of firing the flamethrower. It is highly unlikely that this glitch
will be seen outside of the Redman Bonus game, as that is one of the few times
when an NPC will run towards you unarmed when you are firing the flamethrower.
The flame that is shot will damage anything it hits, though it will be aimed
mostly upwards.
CAUSE:
No official cause. Game likely requires code to un-trigger any weapons
held by the player when tackled, but is lacking that functionality.
SOLUTION:
The flamethrower will only cease firing once the player gets back up or
drops the weapon, at which point it will function normally.
e. Precinct has been cleaned up, but "Precinct Cleaned" message never appeared
on screen and Marcus did not receive a phone call from the Chief.
NOTES/DETAILS:
N/A
CAUSE:
No official cause for this specific issue. However, another glitch
listed on their site occurs because certain events in the game only occur after
the player receives a phone call, which will not happen if the in-game volume
is set to 0. This glitch may be caused by the in-game volume being set to 0,
though it can occur even when the in-game volume is not at 0.
SOLUTION:
Make sure the in-game volume is set to something above 0. This glitch
may still occur infrequently, however.
===================
Palermo Mob
===================
-------------------
Bad Accounting
-------------------
I. After cuffing a suspect on the edge of the moving bookcases Marcus and the
suspect disappear as though they've been gibbed, but Marcus isn't dead.
(CODENAME: "GHOST-WHO-WALKS")
NOTES/DETAILS:
This occurs when you KO as suspect from behind while near the sliding
bookcases, then arrest them. In the process of the arrest animation Marcus and
the suspect will move into the closed bookcases, which will gib him. (For those
of you not familiar with the term, "gib" is when a person is reduced to little
more than a blood splat and some chunks o' flesh) However, since Marcus is
invulnerable while arresting a suspect you will still be able to play, just
with no body. You can still shoot, punch and grab NPCs, and they can still see
Marcus somehow, despite the fact that he has no tangible form. A lack of
tangible form also means that you can manuver through solid objects and cannot
be hit by bullets or anything else. The lack of tangible form will carry over
temporarily to anybody you grab, though they will reappear as soon as you
release them. (in one way or another) This glitch should not prevent you from
completing the mission.
CAUSE:
No official cause. Likely due to the way the gib effect of the sliding
bookcases is coded, i.e. it doesn't check to make sure the gib-ee's health is
at zero before it destroys the body.
SOLUTION:
There is no way to restore Marcus' body other than restarting the mission
from the beginning. Fortunately this glitch makes completing the mission
easier than normal, so long as you don't wander too far outside the walls of
the level.
-------------------
Vertigo
-------------------
I. An armed goon walks through the elevator wall at the last elevator stop.
NOTES/DETAILS:
Occurs if you shoot the goons coming out of the elevator the first
chance you get with a high damage weapon, most likely a Tactical Shotgun
dropped by an earlier goon. Either the force of the shot or the falling body
of one of the goons will push the last goon back into the elevator just as the
doors close. The trapped goon will most likely remain inside the elevator
until you proceed across the wooden planks, at which point the goon will walk
through the wall of the elevator.
CAUSE:
No official cause. Likely due to surfaces inside the elevator not being
made collideable, as the elevator is not supposed to be reachable, combined
with inopportune placement of the goons.
SOLUTION:
Avoid shooting at the goons until the elevator doors are closed. If a
goon is trapped inside the elevator already simply strafe around it until he
walks through the elevator wall.
===================
Shadow Tong
===================
-------------------
A Bad Crowd
-------------------
a. Goth Leader continues to shoot flame when knocked down or even when
unconscious.
NOTES/DETAILS:
This only occurs if you knock the Goth Leader down as he is shooting
flame. The flame will continue to do damage as it is shot, though it will most
likely be aimed in a mostly upwards direction.
CAUSE:
No official cause. Code executed when knocking down an NPC likely needs
to un-trigger any weapons the NPC is holding, but missing that functionality.
SOLUTION:
There is no way to stop the Goth Leader from shooting flame when knocked
down. It will stop when he gets up again, unless he is unconscious. Just
avoid the path of the flame in the meantime.
-------------------
Human Cargo
-------------------
I. Unable to push Tommy off of the cargo crate when prompted to.
(CODENAME: "TOMMY")
NOTES/DETAILS:
This glitch is usually only reported by XBox players, though a few PS2
reports have shown up to my knowledge. When in the grapple with Tommy atop the
cargo crate you will eventually be prompted to press a button to throw him off,
but nothing will happen. Often times the "<Button>: Throw" prompt will stay on
screen even if you are not near the edge. As far as I am aware this problem is
present no matter what you do in the XBox version; I have yet to hear from
anyone who did not find this particular section impossible on the first try.
CAUSE:
No official cause, though this is often cited as evidence of the "wrong
build released for XBox" theory.
SOLUTION:
NOTE: Enabling the Unlimited Endurance cheat makes it much easier to
keep Tommy at the edge of the crate as you try to push him off. To enable it,
go to the Compstat screen, (under City Map) hold the R and L buttons, then
press B, X, A, X, A, B. If you have entered the code correctly you should see
the text just above the legend say "Unlimited Endurance".
1) Make sure your fighting style is set to "Brawling". I can't be
certain that this matters, but the only times I've managed to succeed were
when my fighting style was set to brawling. For those of you who lost track of
which fighting icon is which, it's the one showing the guy in a basic
fistfight stance.
2) Make sure you don't have any hand held weapons on you, ideally
before you get on the crate. The sledgehammer is an awesome weapon, but
something about having it on you seems to screw the game up. If you're in the
middle of the grapple and you still have it on you just switch between it and
the fighting styles until you drop it.
3) Hit A or X (depending on which one will push Tommy) and B at the
same time rapidly when you get to the edge. Call it a bit of directed button
mashing if you want. This is the only way I can seem to beat Tommy, but it
works. Just push him towards the edge like the game tells you, then when you
get him to the edge set the controller on the floor, put your index finger on
A (or X) and your middle on B and push 'em at the same time repeatedly. You'll
want to press them fairly quickly, but not so fast that you'll get tired from
doing it for a minute or so straight; somewhere around every quarter-second.
(Count "one-one-thou-sand two-one-thou-sand" to get quarter-second intervals)
For me it took maybe 10 seconds of this button mashing for Tommy to fall off
the edge of the crate the first time. You can also accomplish the same thing if
you happen to be using a controller with "turbo" buttons.
4) If you don't get anything in the first few seconds, it may help to
periodically pause the game, then unpause it and immediately go back to button
mashing. I find that if I can't push Tommy off within the first several seconds
then somewhere between 5 and 20 pause/unpauses seems to get him to fall off.
II. Jing is "stuck" on a ladder after the player reached the ladder at the same
time or before Jing did.
NOTES/DETAILS:
Usually this glitch only occurs when you are able to actually get on the
ladder, though it sometimes occurs just if you just barely get ahead of Jing.
It almost always results in the ladder staying down and Jing in an infinitely
looping "climb" animation.
CAUSE:
As described on Activision's support website, a limitation in the game
scripts which control Jing's actions in the level. (Read: Bad and lazy coding)
SOLUTION:
Quite simply, do not try to get ahead of Jing in the course of the chase.
If Jing is currently stuck on a ladder you have no choice but to restart the
mission and try again.
III. Player is unable to grab Jing or interrogate him.
NOTES/DETAILS:
<None, not yet seen in tests>
CAUSE:
As described on Activision's support website, a limitation in the game
scripts which control Jing's actions in the level. (Read: game was rushed)
SOLUTION:
As with the previous problem, do not get ahead of Jing in the chase. If
you are unable to initiate an interrogation for any reason with Jing then you
have no choice but to restart the mission and try again.
IV. "Strike" button does not work in interrogation with Jing.
NOTES/DETAILS:
This glitch actually occurs in multiple ways: 1) Pressing the
corresponding button may appear to initiate an attack but does no damage, 2)
Pressing the corresponding button does nothing visible.
CAUSE:
Proximity to wall or other object, or aforementioned badly written game
script. Apparently, quantity is job 1 at Activision.
SOLUTION:
Move away from any surrounding walls or other objects until pressing the
corresponding button has an effect. If that doesn't work it is most likely
that you somehow got ahead of Jing in the chase, which was not handled well by
the game script for that level; you will have no choice but to restart the
mission and try again.
================
Red Man Bonus
================
a. Occasionally "normal" civilians appear, usually running away from the player.
NOTES/DETAILS:
The presence of "normal" civilians seems to only occur after you cut
down a large number of "hostile" civilians in quick succession. From tests it
seems to specifically occur when you shoot a civilian immediately after they
are "spawned" and before they land on the sidewalk. (Civilians seem to be
spawned just a few feet above ground level normally) The freshly-spawned
civilian will then run away from you and may display a health meter. You will
get points and health for killing them.
CAUSE:
No offical cause. Likely an unforseen case when game AI was programmed.
SOLUTION:
Not really a problem. If anything it makes the level a tiny bit easier.